Lol. Minsc and Boo are legendary! Happily, they are in both BG I and II. As are Jaheira, Imoen and Viconia. Once you someday get to BG II, there is a paladin named Keldorn Firecam; when it comes to the gritty noble heart of a knight, he is the real deal. I think, in general, they improved the personalities of the NPCs introduced in II.

I'm really glad you're enjoying the game. I know that I enjoy hearing how and what your characters are doing in BG.

I am still having a lot of fun with BG1. It was well worth the $10 I spent for it!

I discovered something today. Animated skeletons do not get experience points. So they make a great extra tank party member, without stealing the xp from the regular characters. They last for 8 or 9 hours, so you can summon one up at the beginning of an area and it will be good for the entire place. They don't like going through doors into new areas though. They tend to get stuck in the first side of the door, and you have to click on them and manually move them when you come back through again to get them following you once more.

Wow, only $10. My 'copy' cost $19.95 I think from Beamdog.

I got BG working finally on my Micro Center computer. Haven't rolled a new toon yet, but I think I'm going to go with custom class, and make some sort of hybrid fighter/mage. Gonna be a 'he', and his name will be Sir Vayor. I figure since he'll be somewhat of a 'test' that he will be surveying the gameworld.

I like the fact that it's all dice rolls. It takes a different sort of concentration than ES or FO, which means I can make a snack and eat while playing BG, or read a book or some posts. It' an easily pausable game, BG is. The action is not so immediate.

I got mine from Steam during their Summer Sale last month. Both BG1 and 2 EEs were $20 together.

You cannot create your own custom classes like you can in Oblvion. You are stuck with what they offer. But you can do multi-class characters, which I think is what you mean. Tuonetar is my first stab at trying that out.

Oh, and while you do roll the dice for your stats, you can rearrange them however you want with the + and - buttons next to each number. So it is a good idea to just hit the reroll for a bit until you get someone with either an 18 strength, or just a lot of points in general, and then move them around how you like them.

I got ya. Well I'm rolling Sir Vayor now. He's a human, class is Paladin > Cavalier. This is the classic knight type. He is Lawful Good, just like the leader of my DnD party was way back in the '80s. *shrug* This is my mindset for tablegames, always has been. I've had CG and NG and various neutral characters join the party in the past, but the leader was always LG.

I rolled his stats, and you are right, it does allow us to change various numbers. ST = 13, DX = 14, CT = 12, IQ = 14, Wisdom = 16, and CH = 17. I gave him dual-proficiency with a longsword, and chose single proficiency with mace and sword + shield.

Yeah, I'm done! Rolled my first BG toon!

EDIT: Sir Vayor is running around Candlekeep so far. I think the last time I played BG I didn't know there's several things to do here in Candlekeep, so this time I'm just having SV do a few of these. He found a book for some woman in a stack of hay, and also got rid of some rats in a storehouse. He also got some cheap armor + helmet, and a small shield. Since he's got proficiency with longswords, he got one of these, too.

*cough* I'm using the easiest difficulty. Having some fun. Time sure is flying by.

I hope you have fun surveying the game with Sir Vayor.

Today Tuonetar and company made their way south from Beregost to Nashkel, finishing several little quests along the way. At Nashkel they recruited Rasaad and Minsc, and found the Anhkeg armor. Continuing south, I left off at Nashkel Mines.

I recall from the original BG I that Minsc was close to Dynaheir (a mage) and had devoted himself to looking out for 'his witch'. She died between BG I and BG II per the story. Would she fit into your party? I expect Minsc will encourage you to go get her.

http://baldursgate.wikia.com/wiki/Dynaheir

I am not sure what I will make of Dynaheir. I will just have to wait and see. I already have a mage in Neera, and don't think I really need a second one. If she was a sorcerer I would definitely go with Dyna. They are so much easier to use with than the other mages in D&D. It all depends on her voice as well. If it grates on me, she'll just have to go like Jaheria did. Of course I cannot just fire her, because then Minsc will leave as well. So I would have to arrange for her demise.

OTOH, I am loving Minsc. His dialogue is a hoot! He's also seriously good at killing things. So he's earned his spot on the team. Tuo let Rasaad go after today's gaming. He just wasn't measuring up. Tuonetar's animated skeleton seemed more potent in melee combat.

In other news, Tuonetar and crew 'splored all around Nashkel Mines today, but never went inside. Instead Neera brought up the subject of an old Wise Wild Mage named Adoy who might be able to help her control her magic. So Tuo packed up the team and headed east to Adoy's Enclave. That was pretty much a bust, though there was some serious killin' and a level up involved.

Now Tuo is headed west toward the Gnoll Stronghold where Dyna is being held. Rescuing her is next on the To Do list. The main quest will just have to wait its turn!

Neat! I'm so pleased that you like Minsc! As long as your party is basically good, he can always fit in as a heavy front liner. And you're right, his personality and dialogue is a hoot! Dynaheir struck me as reasonably competent and neither inspired nor unpleasant. As you say, check her out, then either allow her to be killed and keep Minsc or opt to keep both of them. As I said, she gets killed in between BG I and II anyway. If you play a woman in BG II and have Minsc, he will eventually 'adopt' you as 'his witch' to replace the role that Dynaheir held for him.

And I agree that Jaheira is both grating to take and not particularly useful.

Today Tuonetar explored the southern edge of the map from Nashkel all the way west to the Gnoll Stronghold. She and company rescued Dynaheir. I was pretty underwhelmed at first. She starts with absolutley nothing, and only knows a handful of spells. I took her back to Nashkel to buy some gear, and used EE Keeper to give her some more spells. Afterward the party headed back to the Gnoll Stronghold to finish up the critters there. We will see how well she does there.

Today Tuonetar and her band of merry heroes finished off the Gnoll Stronghold, and cleared out the regions around it. Dynaheir didn't really impress me. Her voice was fine, unlike others like Jahiera, but with Neera already in the party, Dyna is just superflous. I don't need two mages. Neera's wild magic makes her more interesting (you never know what you are going to get!), so she is the keeper. Since I cannot just fire her without losing Minsc as well, I had to get rid of her in a more proactive fashion. So tonight she sleeps with the fishes.

I also decided to dual-class Imoen. Thieves don't seem a whole lot of use in BG1. There are only a few places in the game with traps for them to detect, and I haven't seen any instance where you *have* to pick a lock. According to the rules, Mage was the only other class I could go to with her. So I used EE Keeper to raise her Strength to 17. That allowed me to dual her to a Fighter. After I loaded her stronger save, I dual-classed her, saved again, and opened that save with EE Keeper again and put her Strength back down to normal. So now she is a Fighter/Thief. That will give her more hit points, a better to hit roll, and allow her to use better weapons like longbows. If I can get ahold of the gauntlets of ogre power, she will be able to use a composite longbow.

I understand about Dynaheir. As I said, she dies anyway off camera in between BG I and II. I'm glad you have another mage you're happy with.

FYI, when you meet your pal Imoen again in BG II, she has already dual classed from a thief to a mage. Of course the nice thing about a character editor is that you can take a character that you like (personality-wise and such) and tweak them to anything you want.

EE Keeper sounds interesting. I might have to try getting that in my game.

I forget the name of the character editor that I used while playing BG II but they are neat. I changed Jahiera to a ranger/cleric and Aerie to a sorceress for example. And gave Minsc the true berserk power instead of the buggy frenzy thing that he has.

Yeh I tried messing with one editor I found on some website. Trying to cheat a little bit and add antidote to my party. But this editor only seems to work half way. Or maybe I'm not entering the code right. It's a typical thing though with me: I need lots of instructions (clear step-by-step) to get something working on PC, and this site's instrux are only half-baked.

Like here is what I mean... here is an example of some good step-by-step instrux, as found on a Wrye Bash website.


See that? Step by step. THAT's what I like. The BG editor page I found throws a bunch of codes up there, but no instructions, dangit.

It sounds like you are trying to use Shadowkeeper? - the character editor for the original versions of the BG games. I don't think that will work with the enhanced editions, because they are different. Use EE Keeper, it is made for the Enhanced Editions, and has always worked like a charm for me.

Tuonetar, Neera, Imoen, and Minsc have succeeded in clearing out the western half of the map, from Candlekeep all the way to the southern edge. They have shifted operations east, and just stared the Gibberling Mountains in the south-eastern corner of the map. I plan to keep working around here until Imoen gets high enough level as a Fighter for her Thief skills to become usable again. It should not be too much longer, she just hit 4th level, and only needs to make 5th.

I also snapped a pic of Neera flattening a gang of hobgoblins with a Color Spray.

Oooh color spray. Prrretty.

Can't get EE Keeper to work. The program opens, and it's asking me to choose which game, but that's as far as I get. I choose BG1 and nothing happens. I wonder if I am picking the right download, first of all. I'm picking 1.0.2.4 > Download, right? Not 'Mac wineskin' and not 'SFX Installer?'

I'll be playing some Oblivion in the mean time.

That is the same version I am using, without the SFX or Mac thing. It usually automatically goes to BG1 to me. I think it remembers it from the last session, and since I am only playing BG1, that is it. You probably have to manually tell it where your game's folder is. I had to with both games. From the menu bar up top, click on Settings -> Installation Directory. From there you can browse for both games by clicking on the Browse:BGEE and Browse:BG2EE buttons.

It keeps saying I have to 'reload the game resources' for it to take effect. I mean, the program opens, and I've told it to look in Program Files (x86) > Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition. I've also tried telling it Program Files (x86) > Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition > Data > 00766, because the installer seemed to suggest I try looking in a folder with a numerical sequence on it. I have no idea what 'reload the game resources' means.

Clicking the Help button .... I'm not seeing anything that says helpful. I'll be playing some TES 1: Arena in the meantime.

Renee, hope you get that character editor mod working - they add a wonderful dimension of flexibility to the game.

SubRosa, thanks for the screenie. I really enjoy following your Baldurventures!

Yes, I got it. I think I got it. Several files were scattered, I didn't realize they all have to be in one place. COOL.

Edit: wow WOW what a neat program! It's so easy to use once I got the hang of it.

Today's Balduring saw Tuon and company finish off all of the eastern side of the map up to Peldvale. Except for Durlag's Tower and Nashkel Mines. Imoen finally got high enough level as a Fighter for her Thief abilities to work once more - 6th level Fighter / 5th level Thief. So once they knock off Peldvale, I will take the band of merry adventurers south to finish off the mines and take a crack at the tower.

I have noticed that even with only 4 members, Tuon's party is much stronger, and higher level, than Scathach's was. I think it was because I was taking the evil option in many quests, I was missing out on a lot of experience point awards. Like with the Melicamp the Chicken quest. Scath simply dropped him off at the wizard's place in High Hedge. But Tuonetar actually stuck around and volunteered to help get him turned back to normal. There have been a lot of cases where Tuon has gone the extra mile like that, and gotten more XP. Now she is breezing through battles that had been really brutal for Scath.

Glad it's working well for Toon-Eater and her small band. Congrats to Imoen for getting her thiefy skills back!

I can see where Imoen splitting classes with a spellcaster would be good. She is basically a rear-liner to start with, and making her the magic support as well as the occasional trap finder and lockpicker rolls two jobs into one character. That leaves an extra slot for another front-liner. Or just for one fewer character. As I have noticed - less characters in the party means more experience for each.

Today Tuonetar and company finally knocked off Nashkel Mines. They headed back north, and are about to tackle the Bandit Camp.

Toon Eater! I didn't catch this before.

Sir Vayor, Imoen, Jaheera, and Khalid (I may have spelled those last two names wrong) are exploring some wilderness. Dealing with gnolls, skeletons, and other such baddies. They have 253 gold between them all, and so far nobody's died. I may even bump up the difficulty eventually.

Tuonetar and company spent the last few nights exploring Durlag's Tower. I got farther this time than with Scathach. But eventually I got fed up again. I just don't like that place. Too many traps, and the hallways and rooms are just too narrow and small.

So now Tuonetar and her group are exploring Cloakwood. They just picked up Coran, and agreed to help him with his Wyvern hunt. He does not look like much, with an ordinary longbow and plain leather armor compared to the others in the bunch. But he seems to be doing ok nonetheless. A 20 Dexterity helps!

Tuonetar and company explored all of Cloakwood today. After selling off the wyvern heads, Tuo parted ways with Coran. He was ok as a team member. But the crew really did not need him. So now it is back to a foursome: Tuonetar, Minsc, Imoen, and Neera. Plus Tuonetar's summoned skeleton of course. I left them on the doorstep of the hidden mine in Cloakwood.

Glad it's still going well. Your party sounds good!

Was Cloakwood forest accessible from the very start or could you only explore it after a certain point in the main quest? In the original version, these areas were inaccessible until you advanced enough through the main quest.

It was inaccessable until I did Naskel Mine, and then cleared out the Bandit Camp. Likewise, the city of Baldur's Gate itself was also locked off until finishing Cloakwood Mine.

Speaking of which, Tuonetar and crew cleared out the Cloakwood Mine. Then they moved north, clearing out the Farmlands and Wyrm's Crossing. Now they are in the city of Baldur's Gate, looking into this Seven Suns business.

I only played through BG I and TotSC one time, then got deep into BG II for several years. So I don't remember much in the way of quests and areas from BG I. I continue to enjoy the nostalgia of reading your updates as you crew progresses along. No doubt, Minsc and Imoen are the most memorable carryovers from I to II.

I was looking over my foursome's stats, and I noticed that Imoen has the best Thaco of the group! It is a 3. Turning her into a Fighter/Thief has made her rather awesome. Of course it helps that I recently gave her the book that boosts Dexterity by a point, to put hers up to 19.

Tuonetar and company made their way through the city of Baldur's Gate today, explored some of the sewers, and cleaned out the Iron Throne's building. Now they are back where she started, at Candlekeep.

I have to admit that I am starting to get burned out on BG though. I skipped most of the sidequests in the city, because I just want to get to the end of it now. I'll probably take a break from the series afterward, and try some other game before going to BG2. I am not sure what. Tuonetar's game in Skyrim has not been grabbing me. A lot of people are playing Fallout these days, so maybe I'll roll a new toon and jump on the radiation bandwagon. Or dust off Lonesome Dove or my Winter Soldier Callieach.

It's hard working these older games into modern times, isn't it? .. Not that BG is bad, but that it's hard to include it if you've also got several modern games (like I do) going as well. Multiple characters in some of these other games too.

Makes me wish I had been a PC gamer back in the '90s. Without Fallout, Skyrim, and Oblivion, I would have had all the time in the world to focus on TES 1: Arena, TES 2: Daggerfall, and then Baldur's Gate, as the years rolled by. Know what I mean?

Its not so much that BG is an older game. That does not really bother me at all. It is just the fatigue of it being the same game for too long. I was able to play Oblivion for years, and Rome Total War for years before that. But I have not come across other games that can hold my interest for as long as they did.

No no, I'm not saying there is any problem because BG is old. What I am saying is in my case, I'm struggling a bit because I'm trying to cram all these different games and characters into my free time. It would have been interesting if I could turn back the clock to the 1990s again, and have played some of these older games back then. Focused all my time more casually instead of cramming.

Maybe you played BG back when it was new? ... I did not. I wasn't even gaming in those days. My gaming renaissance happened in February of 2000, when I discovered Tomb Raider on Playstation. I spent the next 7 years playing various editions of TR. Meanwhile, if I had an Xbox instead of a PS, I would have no doubt discovered Morrowind as well.

Sorry, just being a little philosophical.

To get back O/T, I last played some BG 3 or 4 days ago. It was fun. Sir Vayor, Imoen, Khalid, Jaherra, and a couple others are roaming south, trying to get to some mines so they can take care of the iron shortage somehow.

So many games, so little time. I know what you mean.

I still remember the boss battle from the Cloakwood mine as if it happened yesterday. That guy, who's in charge of the mines - Davaeorn, suddenly started teleporting all over his quarters and because my characters had commands to attack him, they followed him as soon as he teleported. But I didn't count on the fact that his quarters were trapped so there was real chaos with all traps being triggered and Davaeorn teleporting all over. Later, when I got better at gaming, he wasn't a challenge anymore.


Off-topic but there is one building in the city which devs forgot to finish so upon entering, the game crashes but maybe they fixed it in the EE.

Speaking of getting burned on BG, I played only BG series, Fallout 1 & 2 (and some Civilization and Commandos) for years when I was a teenager, one reason is because I really loved them but the other one is that my computer at that time couldn't handle any better games so I was more or less stuck with them. I can say that I spent a majority of my childhood playing just these two games. But these days I don't see myself playing BG or original FO anymore, I moved on and I prefer remembering them instead of playing them. Like Acadian, I was always more into BG II, I even played it before BG I - my brother bought it to me as a birthday present.

My first attempt at taking him on was all chaos like that. I think Tuonetar got killed, which forced a reload. My second time around I held the party back and sent Imoen forward alone. She decoyed his guards back toward the others without triggering Davaeron, so the party could kill them separately. Then Imoen went back in sneaking by herself and disarmed the traps. Dav spotted her, and she was disarming the last of them while he was headed toward her to attack. I pulled her back, and then Neera started flinging fireballs into his chamber. Then the rest of the party went at him, and he started his teleporting. But it was a four on one and the party was already hasted, so he never stood a chance.

Had a whirlwhind session today that saw Tuonetar sneak back into Baldur's Gate, deal with all sorts of betrayers, get invited to the Ducal Palace, and have the first showdown with the Big Bad. Now they are chasing him through the Thieves Guild Maze.

Nice! My session wasn't so good. Imoen and Jaheera got killed. My fault really.

They party found some sort of graveyard. There was a mad wizard and a bunch of undead. Zombies and skeletons. The wizard made some sort of epic statement and mistook Sir Vayor for his father or something. The he started acting like he was going to do something over-the-top, so I initially had Sir Vayor & company get the hell out of there.

But then we went back. Killed one skeleton which had wandered off from the main pack. Then we got a zombie. The strategy was to lure these undead off one by one, until only the wizard was left. But at one point we got too close, and the wizard (or somebody) cast an Entangle spell, dangit. Most of the party was now entangled. Ironically, Imoen made her saving throw, so she was not entangled. But she got killed anyway! Arrgh.

Jaherra also got killed, which sucks because he is the party's only healer. Or he was. So now we're down to Vayor, Khalid, and one other guy (a Ranger) who I am forgetting his name. ... Anyway.

Enough with BG, time for a game I'm actually GOOD AT! .. I switch to Oblivion now.

I think I know the place you mean. It is the area south of High Hedge. Hang on to those bodies, and their stuff. You can get them raised at any temple. There is a big one in the area just east of Beregost. There's also one right beside the Friendly Arm Inn. In fact, if that was the place south of High Hedge, go the Temple east of Beregost. The priest there will give you a big reward. I think you need to take the mad wizard's holy symbol with you to prove you killed him.

Don't feel bad about things getting fubared like that. This game is just like that. 99% of the fights you will just walk through. But the boss fights will often come out of left field like that one, and kick your rear. That is why it is good to quicksave a lot. Just reload and give it another shot. This is not a game to play dead is dead like Oblivion. It just is not made that way.

I would not really be broken up about Jahiera getting killed though. I never liked her anyway.

I can't recall if it was a problem in BG I, but I really remember the mage fights of BG II. Those enemy mages could turn your whole party into frenzied or confused or terrorized loons!

Sorry, Renee. I never warmed up to Jaheira either. And Khaliid seemed a timid mouse just waiting for a real fighter to replace him. Lol.

Jaheira is annoying in BG II as well but if you piss her off in the starting dungeon, she'll leave and never return. I think that most of my characters did this.

Thanks SR, I will take your advice about the temple beside Friendly Arm. I figure Imoen is definitely worth it, she and Sir Vayor are supposed to have some sort of past.

I like Jaheira, call me crazy. If only for the fact that Jaheira can heal the others. But I don't mind Jaheira.



Yeah but...

I finally wrapped up Baldur's Gate I this afternoon. That was a big fight at the end. But a little weird, as I finished off Savelok (he sounds like a Vulcan with that name) before killing his lackeys. So I get a message that Sav is dead. Then it goes back to fighting with the other baddies. Then a message that a final save has been made to export to BG2. Then back to fighting, then the game ends.

I fired up BG2 and tried to import Tuonetar, but it could not find the final save BG1 made. I had to use Explorer to copy the save folder from my BG1 saves to my BG2 saves. Then it could find her and import her. I was a little surprised to see that she has all her levels and spells from before. I did not play enough to see if all her gear came over too.

I was expecting her stats to remain the same, but the levels to reset. Then I tried creating a new character, and found that you start out at 7th level. So it is not unbalancing to bring in a PC exported from BG1.

I am done with Balduring for now though. I think I will play a bit more of Lonesome Dove in FONV. I also have a bit of a hankering for Neverwinter Nights again, maybe I will try NWN2 after that. Eventually I will get back to BG2 though.

Congrats! Taking a break between BG I and II is perfect. No rush and the two games are only gently linked, and that is mostly at the beginning.

Congratulations on finishing BG, IMO it's one of the greatest games ever made. I don't remember the exact details but all Sarevok's lackeys are named after some of the game developers, Semaj reads backwards as James, Angelo is named after Angelo obviously and Tazok is an anagram of Kozta, which is similar to Kosta and this was one of the BG developers as well.

Do these bodies have to be physically carried somehow? I'm in the temple at Friendly Arm and I see Imoen & Jaheira's faces are there, but they are greyish and I don't see an option to revive them. Spoke to the cleric NPC in the temple.